Zelensky: Ukraine won’t take part in upcoming US-Russia talks
The Ukrainian President will travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but his trip is said to be unrelated to the talks between Russian and US officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country will not take part in US-Russia talks this week on ending the war and cannot accept the outcome of the summit if Ukraine does not participate.
Speaking to journalists on a conference call from the United Arab Emirates, Mr Zelensky said his government had not been invited to Tuesday’s planned talks in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Zelensky added he would travel to Turkey on Monday and to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but said his trip to the Arab nation was unrelated to the planned US-Russia talks there on Tuesday.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will fly to the Saudi capital the day to take part in the talks.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio will lead the US delegation. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday that he and national security adviser Mike Waltz also will take part in the talks.
Mr Peskov said the talks will be primarily focused on “restoring the entire complex of US-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organising a meeting of the two presidents”.
On Monday, Mr Zelensky met the leader of the United Arab Emirates as momentum grows for potential peace talks ending Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night after attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Footage released by his office showed him and his wife, Olena Zelenska, being greeted by an Emirati official and honour guard at the airport late on Sunday night.
Ms Zelenska has travelled to the UAE since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, but this trip is Mr Zelensky’s first to the UAE since the war began.
“Our top priority is bringing even more of our people home from captivity,” Mr Zelensky’s office said in messages online. “We will also focus on investments and economic partnership, as well as a large-scale humanitarian programme.”
The United Arab Emirates’ state-run WAM news agency did not immediately report on Mr Zelensky’s arrival, which was unusual.
Mr Zelensky said the meeting included officials signing a deal that “maximally liberalises access to the UAE market for almost all Ukrainian goods”.
Ukrainian economy minister Yuliia Svyrydenko in a Facebook post called the deal “truly a historic event” as it was the country’s first with a Gulf Arab state. Officials also agreed to create a Ukraine-UAE Investment Council.
“I am confident that this agreement will provide a strong boost to our economies, strengthen cooperation in key sectors, and lay the foundation for long-term, stable engagement between our countries,” the minister wrote.
Mr Zelensky’s visit to Abu Dhabi came as it hosts its biennial International Defence Exhibition and Conference arms show this week, where both Ukraine and Russia have displayed arms — even as Moscow faces Western sanctions over the war.
While Ukraine was not selling any of the weapons, its presence at the fair was crucial, said Ivan Sybyriakov, senior manager of the Unmanned Systems Centre at the SPETS Techno Export.
“It is very important to show that Ukraine is not a victim of the war,” he said. “Ukraine is the defender of Europe.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha visited Ukraine’s stands on Monday afternoon, even as Russia tried to sell helicopters and other weaponry at the fair.
“Our capacity now we could produce 4 million drones per year despite the war,” Mr Sybiha told journalists. “We could test the drones or our products immediately on the battlefield. That’s why they are really of the high quality. So I’m really proud, as a minister of a country in war, to visit the exposition.”
Russian money continues to flood into Dubai’s red-hot property market. Daily flights between the Emirates and Moscow provide a lifeline for both those fleeing conscription and the Russian elite.
The US Treasury under former president Joe Biden also expressed concerns about the amount of Russian cash flowing into the Arabian Peninsula country.
Talks focused on “growing UAE-Russia ties and ways to advance shared interests, benefiting both nations and their peoples”, according to a spokesperson
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia this week for direct talks with Russia over the war. He will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and other officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Ukraine will not be present at the talks.
The outreach and Mr Trump’s direct call with Mr Putin have upended years of US policy under Mr Biden that isolated Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago.
Mr Sybiha declined to answer a question from a journalist about what he would say to his American counterpart ahead of the meeting.
